State ordered to reverse itself on some unemployment claims

Thousands of Georgia bus drivers, cafeteria workers and private school teachers, who this year were denied usual summertime unemployment checks, may get that money after all, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler instituted the benefits change on Jan. 30. He said it was unfair for contractual workers to receive seasonal benefits when public school system employees don’t.

Washington officials determined last week that the Georgia Department of Labor violated workplace laws by refusing to pay the benefits. In an Aug. 2 letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the federal government ordered Butler to rescind the ruling and pay the teachers and contract workers for the weeks, or months, of lost unemployment benefits.

The payments